Participatory development approach and its critiques with examples in the context of South Africa.

Participatory development approach is the approach which allows individuals to build their own capacity and self-reliance, you are granted the opportunity in the process of development and you can also partner in it.  By such development information between community members and all stakeholders who are involved is provided, it is however realized that community groups tends to take part in the development and therefore empowerment occurs in a form that is of structural transition and access to resources as part of empowerment strategies.

The concept of this approach entails that people are actively involved in the development processes whereby they can also partake in making decisions about implementation of processes, programs and projects that affects. This approach aims to ensure that there is full attention and focus of enhancing benefits of local people and to ensure that negative results of gauging the needs and views of local communities that will be affected and seeking to construct a consensus about development project plans are carried by lessening them.

The approach is about introducing mechanisms from informal institutions such as the existing traditional resource management systems of local societies to enhance the effectiveness of existing formal institutions. It also about constructing or restructuring formal institutions as legal and administrative systems. The participatory development approach benefits people in a way that it allows the incorporation of local knowledge, skills and resources in the design of interventions, it can also ensure that there is responsiveness of the projects/programme to people's needs, moreover enhancement of sustainability and assists breaking the mentality of dependency.